Procedure

Week 1

Brief Guide to the Library of Congress Internet Site

You can Browse Collections by Topic or use the search box at the top
of the page. Try Browse first to get a sense of the overall scope of
the collections.

Next, look at More browse options to explore each of the media formats. Search (on each media format home
page) to locate one item in each format, then print it along with its
bibliographic information. For sound recordings and motion pictures,
print the page with the bibliographic information.Photos and Prints - Find a photo of a city you know. Maps - Find a map of the same city. Books, Other Printed Texts - Find a document on the U. S. Congress or on work/economy (See if you can see the document image -many are available.) Motion Picture Collections - Find a film on work. Sound Recordings - Find a song or music recording.

Core Historical Themes and Topics

Each group will address all six themes and all twelve topics within
the decade chosen/assigned. The group will decide how to address all the
themes by dividing up the themes and topics fairly, for example:

Theme #2: What have been the processes and consequences of migration for the peopling of the United States?Sample Relevant topics: Race/ethnicity; Gender roles; Family; Socio-economic class.

Core Historical Themes

These themes will help to structure our investigations of U. S.
history during 1890-1941. Please keep this sheet in your notebook
because we will make reference to it often during our work together.

How have diverse groups in the U. S. population participated in the institutions of democratic life?

What have been the processes and consequences of migration for the peopling of the United States?

How has the United States changed from an agrarian, rural society to an industrial, urban society?

How have guarantees of fundamental human rights been expanded to include diverse groups within the United States?

What have been the processes and consequences of the growth of capitalism as the dominant economic model in the United States?

How has the United States emerged as a world power influencing global events, conflicts and trends?

Core Historical Topics

Select the topics that relate to your chosen or assigned theme. Not every topic relates to every theme.

Using the list of Core Topics, identify
four which you believe will be helpful in locating information in
American Memory and in other resources. Describe the types of sources
you expect or hope to find using those topics.

Topic #1:________________________

Topic #2:________________________

Topic #3:________________________

Topic #4:________________________

Week 3

Requirements

Group Responsibility

Develop a work plan for equitable sharing of group responsibilities and tasks.

Create a presentation to share results of your research with the entire class.

Identify essential findings about your research, and present them in a format of your choice during the presentation.

Complete a final work product that represents the findings of your
research. This is separate from the presentation, but can be used in the
presentation. This work product must demonstrate that the group has
used the sources in its annotated bibliography, with the proper citation
format. (See Citing Electronic Sources for suggestions.) The segments of the work product completed by
individuals within the group should be identified by the author’s name
in the table of contents.

Individual Responsibility

Complete an annotated bibliography with a minimum of 25 sources: 10
secondary sources; 15 primary sources (10 from American Memory).

Complete your section of the final work product. Include documention for your sources in the final product.

Complete Peer Review Forms for a minimum of 2 other work products in first draft form.

Mode of Expression Product Ideas

Discuss criteria for each possible mode of expression with the entire
class or with small groups of students involved in each expression.

Multimedia presentation

Mass circulation magazine or newspaper

Family scrapbook

Series of letters or correspondence

Illustrated children's book

Historic mural/museum exhibition

From Concept to Completion

You've done quite a bit of work so far, and we still have a distance
to travel to create your project. Now it's time to move towards your
goal by developing ideas from your Questions for Investigation, Themes,
and Topics into a manageable, achievable final product.

Week 5

Preliminary Bibliography

Locate 10 secondary sources related to the theme, questions and
topics you are investigating. Remember that a secondary source is not an
eyewitness account of an event, person's life, or pattern of change.
These sources must be different from others used by your research group.

Good places to start are:

specialized encyclopedias and dictionaries

journals and magazines

books about the era/time period you are studying

books about the specific topics you are emphasizing

online sources (historical web sites, archives of topical articles)

literature (novels, short stories, poetry, essays about the period/topics)

Week 6

Peer Review Form

Review/critique another project using the form below or another
specified by your teacher. Do not review the project of someone in your
group.

Project Reviewed:
Student's Name:

Highlights and interesting features

Questions posed or concerns raised

Content:

Content:

Design:

Design:

Historical Biography - Resume

NAME:

RESIDENCE:

FAMILY MEMBERS:
Name:
Relationship:
Age:

OCCUPATION(S) AND WORK EXPERIENCE:
Dates:
Title and Responsibilities:
Location

Week 7

Strategy for Sharing

Develop a strategy for sharing your essential findings with other
members of the class. Do this in collaboration with other members of
your group.

For example:

Have a press conference where the editorial board of a magazine
"introduces" their new magazine to the public and other journalists.

Stage a family reunion where the family "scrapbook" is displayed and discussed with others attending the event.

Have a "meeting of the minds" of important people from your decade.
Have them discuss the major issues of the time, and respond to questions
from the audience.

Sharing Strategy:

Essential Findings:
State 5 essential findings that emerged from research of your Questions
for Investigation. State your findings as generalizations with broad
significance, and avoid the repetition of minute facts or data.

Week 8

Making Sense of What We've Studied

Instructions: As you participate in this week's
presentations, either as an audience member or a presenter, examine the
results of our research over time. What long-term trends have emerged in
response to each of the 6 thematic questions studied by our groups
during the period from 1890 to 1941? Listen carefully to the presenters,
ask them questions, clarify their comments for your understanding,
discuss your observations with the class, and note your conclusions
below.

Refer to the six thematic questions as each group makes its presentation:

How have diverse groups in the U. S. population participated in the institutions of democratic life?

What have been the causes, processes and consequences of migration for the peopling of the United States?

How has the United States changed from an agrarian, rural society to an industrial urban society?

How have guarantees of fundamental human rights been expanded to include diverse groups within the United States?

What have been the causes, processes and consequences of the growth
of capitalism as the dominant economic model in the United States?

How has the United States emerged as a world power influencing global events, conflicts and trends?